The Difference Between Simplicity and Minimalism

In a recent interview, I was asked about the difference between simplicity and minimalism. It seems to be a popular question, so if you’ve been wondering, I have an answer for you.

Defined by Wikipedia

Simplicity is the state or quality of being simple.

Minimalism is any design or style in which the simplest and fewest elements are used to create the maximum effect.

Simple living is a minimal, low-consumption way of living sometimes called minimalism.

Of course, that wasn’t my answer. My response to “What is the difference between simplicity and minimalism?” is this:

What you call it isn’t nearly as important as what you do with it. The word minimalist can imply that you only live with what you can fit in a backpack or in a home with white walls, and unfortunately, that turns people off. It doesn’t seem achievable or enjoyable for most. Minimalists are just like you with less stuff, but when we remove the label and focus on the action, like living with less, the idea becomes accessible and intriguing instead of scary and intimidating.

When I started this journey of simplifying or editing my life, I thought the result would be an organized drawer.

Instead it is …

Getting rid of 50% of our stuff, led to getting rid of more and now close to 50% of our 2000 sq foot home is empty or unused. I grew up looking for bigger and better and now I look forward to smaller and more meaningful.

Thanks to “living with less”, things like debt, storage and semi-annual sales are not part of my life.

Call it what you want, simplicity, minimalism, life-edited, and then put it into action. Sure you’ll have less. Less stuff. And then you’ll have more. More Love. More Freedom. More Happiness. More purpose.

a short list of simplicity/minimalist focused sites for your inspiration …

Comments

I hope more people actually try and practice minimalism. I know many probably think it is only a quaint idea that sounds charming. It is so much more. You learn to value life, love, and all of the experiences that come with them. You have to give yourself room to move if you want to experience life more fully.

Hmmmm…. back when I started down this road twenty-some-odd years ago, the voluntary simplicity movement was about living with less money, which leads to less work, which leads to more free time. I guess I sorta missed the memo about counting your belongings. I wonder if the movement has changed, or if that was just the part of it that spoke to me personally. But I’m struck by the fact that these days I seldom hear any “simple living” or “minimalist” folks talking about quitting your job or living on very little income, which seemed like the main point of it all to me.

I don’t see why one would have to quit their job to seek simplicity. Maybe it means staying where you’re at instead of chasing a promotion. For others it may mean spending money on experiences or giving to charity instead of spending it on material possessions

Oh, I’m not saying that quitting one’s job is some sort of requirement for simple living, I just find it curious that the whole idea of less expenses = less work seems to have disappeared from the conversation altogether. I suppose it’s possible that it was never a central part of the movement in the first place, and I simply glommed onto it because I’m a rebellious, lazy slob who hates to work. 🙂

But I just wonder if the idea has been downplayed because of the economy, or if the idea of quitting one’s job was deemed too “out there” or threatening so as to make it seem inaccessible to most people. Perhaps I’m just far out on the fringes of even this fringe movement, but certainly for me, not having to have a job has been, if not the biggest then certainly the most tangible benefit of my lifestyle.

Debt-free and financially independent is our goal 🙂 We already are debt free and my husband actually tried to quit his job (of 4 days a week) already but they didn’t want to let him go..
I really don’t know why not having a “real job” is presented as such a bad idea. It’s more ecological to earn less money to spend, and you are letting others have your job, who need and want it more 🙂

I have to agree, when I started to downsize it was because I was tired of taking care of all the stuff I had accumulated while raising a family. As the house emptied I realized I needed so much less, and by needing less I could focus my time less on a job and more on what I wanted to do. I only work a couple hours a day, if that, on my own schedule, and the rest of the time I get to do whatever I want. So as I delved further into the idea of simple living I assumed everyone who was seeking simplicity was also doing it with the intent to free up their life from working so much to earn the money to buy the stuff. Without that need to spend, there’s less reason to earn that full time wage.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the differences between minimalism and simplicity in two mediums now. It was fun having you on the Smart and Simple Matters show and, although the power of your words resonates in both text and talk, I have a personal preference for the spoken word. 🙂

I hope people get a fraction of the value from listening to our chat as they get every week from Be More with Less. And by the way, I also appreciate your curated short list of websites at the end of this article. I’m already tracking most of them, but it’s nice to see your thoughts on where others could use their time well.

Great post, as usual. I know there are dozens of posts on this subject out there. I posted something similar last year. I thought you and your readers might be interested in my comparisons between simple living and minimalist living.

Courtney,
Thanks for this simple and succinct post on simplicity and minimalism. Much appreciate.
I’ve lived simply since 1977 (except for 3 or 4 when I went off on corporate consulting experiment; didn’t have heart for me, so dropped it). Wrote a book about Simplicity and Success, attempting to integrate the two, and get beyond the teeter-totter “either/or” framework that stumps so many.

And although I subscribe to Leo’s blog (Zen Habits) and have read posts about minimalism, I didn’t really get the point of it. Was it just a 1-year experiment to see how little you could live on? If so, great. But was it more?

This piece and the links to other blogs have really helped me broaden my perspective and see how simple living and minimalism inter-connect.

I’m a minimalist and I love it! My 10 year old daughter? Can you say hoarder? The two living styles do NOT mix which results in her “hoarderism” spilling out into my minimalism and creating total confusion in our home…but I am not going to give up on her yet…she still has a chance LOL

I am working to free up lots of space in our 2100 sq foot house. My goal is to move to a very small house that is as self sufficient as possible once the kids are all out of school. I have four more years to sort everything out. It sounds like lots of time, but four years as we all know goes very fast.

It is tough trying to reduce clutter with three teenagers in the house, but it can be done to some extent.